Kaleidoscopic life

In this chapter, Arjuna urges Krishna to tell him about the Supreme God and how one can identify and reach Him. Krishna explains how to worship God and attain Him. A person who thinks of Krishna when their last breath is taken will be with God and there will be no rebirth. Now I am really thinking about Krishna. I started imagining myself wearing a (very beautiful ) orange Saree with beads(No not made of Rudrakshas definitely, may be Ruby beads)  around my neck and some instrument( It doesn’t make any difference as I can play no instrument). Krishna is talking about death which is unknown to us. Let’s come back to our life and see how to apply this to our life. The theme of the chapter is, ' As You Think So You Become ' and it's all about how practice makes the man perfect! -> The world is desire-driven. Work on improving the quality of desires. Every move is out of resultant of desires whether you are watching a movie, going for a walk, eating food or sleeping . You wi...

Till 6th chapter, Krishna imparted knowledge to Arjuna on how to perform duties without expectation, sacrifice, self control and then do meditation. Chapter 7 opens with Krishna continuing his disclosure. He discusses jnana (knowledge) and vijnana (realization, understanding). He also emphasizes the importance of choosing the eternal Spirit over the ephemeral world. It’s a little bit complicated for me. I feel that this whole chapter can be explained through the means of one beautiful Telugu poem by Potana. ఇందు కల దండు లేదని సందేహము వలదు చక్రి సర్వోపగతుం డెందెందు వెదకి చూచినా నందందే కలదు దానవాగ్రణి వింటే  Meaning: When Hiranyakashyapa asks Prahlada where Vishnu is, Prabhlada responds by saying,"You do not need to doubt where Vishnu is. He is everywhere. Where ever you look for him, you can find him." ->Understand the power within us. We have infinite power and Bhagvadgita lets us tap into the power with in. How can we do this ? Does education/a degree teach us this ?...

In this chapter, Krishna emphasizes on performing duties without expectation. He gives an extensive explanation of meditation and how to meditate.   Man should elevate himself with his own mind, not degrade.  For humans, the mind is the cause of happiness and sorrow. Regulation of diet and sleep is recommended. See God every where and in every thing. While I was reading all these verses, I had lot of questions in my mind. Is it really that easy to do meditation by sitting in a calm place and focus? Let me start tomorrow. I should get up early in the morning and start practicing yoga. I need to clean kitchen tonight. I should have idly batter ready, so I can make idlis immediately after my meditation.  But how about the weekend then? In the weekend, I want to sleep a little longer and by the time I get up, I will be hungry. When I wake up, I would have forgotten about meditation. Oh no! It’s already Thursday! So I can’t continue if I start tomorrow, so I wil...

In this chapter, Arjuna asks Krishna which is better, renunciation of action or performance of action?. Krishna responds both lead to higher bliss. But performing action is better. Krishna explains the qualities that a human should attain to reach god. -> Controlling his own senses and Renunciation This is the most difficult part in any one’s life. We struggle everyday to control our taste buds and tongue. Why do we love to eat in restaurants, though we know it is not good for our health? Why do we love eating a masala dosa in a restaurant more than what we make at home, in spite of knowing that it is loaded with butter/oil/ghee? Why are we standing in a queue in front of a pani puri stall on the road side, despite having doubts about its cleanliness. Why are we overeating, though we suffer from bloating by end of the day ? Why is dieting so difficult? [P.S : Everyday morning I tell myself that I won’t overeat today. I watch all cooking videos, start cooking and finally end up over...

This chapter is about Fusion of knowledge and Action. And our most frequently heard poem. “ Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata
Abhythanamadharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam
Dharmasangsthapanarthay sambhabami yuge yuge “ Krishna himself will come in different avatars when there is a need to reestablish principles of dharma or even to protect his devotees. He explains the antiquity and science of knowledge and how knowledge flows down through generations. -> We need to teach our kids what ever we have learned while growing up. It is not enough to force kids to study math and science. We need to teach them what makes them ultimately happy. This is possible only by practicing. -> Pray and believe in God. Worship/sacrifice has many paths, including the paths of meditation, self-denial(fasting, donations), and study of scriptures. However, these paths are subsets of the main path: right action. We see numerous examples and hear so m...

The more I am trying to understand, the more I am loving to do so. Its a beautiful experience, I recommend everyone to go through this. Bhavad gita is a great motivational book. Motivation is like fuel, and we need it almost everyday. This chapter also emphasizes the importance of performing your own duties. -> Always do the right action with right attitude. Action is superior to everything. Be it washing dishes, cooking or performing monotonous spread sheet update at work, focus and be involved with the action. -> Work is worship. -> Lead by example. Krishna, the supreme lord himself, takes avatars and perform duties, though he is above all the regulations and has nothing to achieve. So-called renunciation for the purpose of maintenance is never approved by the Lord. If you want your team or kids to work hard, stop complaining and get your hands dirty. You can’t expect your kids to study when you are busy watching Netflix. -...

I have been thinking about reading and understanding the meaning of Bhagavad-gita for a long time. I have this odd habit of preparing a schedule before doing something and most of the time, I will work on re-arranging the schedule. With Quarantine WFH, I have decided to spend some of quality time praying to God. Yes, God is the only one who can show the light in the darkness. I planned to read Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavatam, Sai Satcharithra and many other books and collected some of them. I originally planned to read many other supporting books and watch Youtube videos about Bhagavad-gita from different prominent personalities, try to understand it from their perspective and then write/narrate essence from my a.k.a software engineer/women/daughter/wife/mother perspective, but could not. I had a conversation with a friend who read Bhagavad-gita everyday . She is reading every day, while I am simply discussing plans. Yet, I never had a chance to do any of these activities, as I...